The big elm in our backyard is gone. I intended to write this entry about how much I miss the tree, the tragedy of cutting down something that's been growing in the same place forever...but the truth is that I don't miss it at all.
Don't get me wrong. I love trees, especially big ones. This one, however, was clearly not a happy tree. Every year, the branches looked a bit more straggly and leaf-bare. The photo to the right was taken when we first moved in.
The trunk oozed (it had slime flux). Whenever the wind picked up, Jeff and I would cringe in anticipation of big branches falling, hopefully not on the phone lines.
Once a large branch fell between our next door neighbour and a friend as they were talking in her backyard; our tree overhung about four neighbours' yards. It was only a matter of time before the tree managed to do more serious damage.
So we started investigating.
In Toronto, you need special permission before you can remove a living tree (if the trunk is a foot or more in diameter), even if it's growing on your own property. You can be fined up to $20,000 for ignoring this bylaw.
Getting this permission is paperwork-heavy and costly. In order to apply (just an application, mind you -- the city can always just say no), you need to submit the following:
1. A Completed Permit Application form
2. A Completed Owner's Authorization form - if the owner has not signed the Permit Application
3. A detailed Arborist Report (e.g. you need to hire an Arborist)
4. A Landscape/Replanting Plan - this must be filed with all permit application forms
5. Tree Protection Plan (as applicable)
6. Site Plans - for applications which involve construction, existing trees must be accurately plotted on the Site Plan
7. 2 Copies of recent legal plan of Survey with Ravine Protection Line if property is on a ravine
8. A non-refundable permit Application Fee ($100-200/tree)
Got all that?
In addition to talking to several arborists and the city tree guy, we also let our neighbours know what was going on. Eventually we did get our permit, and we decided to hire Barker Tree Service (905-478-4674) on the recommendation of one of our neighbours.
I had been planning to work on that Saturday, but I kept being drawn to our back windows to watch Brent and his guys at work.
Brent Barker was obviously at ease high up in those branches, casually moving from one to another. Ok, maybe not so casually...he had climbing spurs and a safety harness, and also was careful to rope himself onto the tree whenever he had to lean out precariously.
Yikes.
Fallen branches were fed into a hopper and ground up into wood bits, which Brent told me were going to be used as compost as well as for lining forest trails up north.
Brent also had other specialized equipment, like this mutant chainsaw for reaching branches that had fallen awkwardly:
Anyway, back to the not missing the tree part.
Some would compare the tree to an old person and thus curse us for not trying harder to keep the tree alive. I tend to think of it more as a life analogy -- you know the bits of your life that you try to hang onto way way past the point where you need to make a change? That's the tree. It could be a bad relationship, for example, or a friendship that just doesn't work the way it used to.
It takes willpower to make the decision to make the change and move on. There might be emotional upheaval and baggage and readjustment, but in the end it's much better for you. Plus imagine what might grow with all that extra sunlight, now that the tree's gone!
Ok, I'll stop with the life analogies. It could also be just a TREE, after all.
Anyway, we had a couple of calls from neighbours while the tree was being cut down. Happily, they weren't calls to complain. One was from an older woman who lives in the house across our backyard to thank us for the entertaining show. :-) The other was from a neighbour to ask if they could have some of the leftover wood for firewood.
Brent's guys not only cut up some of the wood into fireplace-sized logs but also wheeled it over to the neighbour! Jeff also stacked some of wood for our fireplace:
After the trunk was chopped down, Brent got another machine and ground up the stump, filling the hole in with the wood chips. You can't tell a tree was ever in the spot:
Jeff and I are now talking about what kind of new tree to plant in the same place. Right now I'm voting for a purple lilac or some kind of maple. Tree suggestions welcome! I like trees which provide colour during part of the year, either in flowers or leaves.
I'm excited about the spring, to see what happens to the garden with all the extra sunlight. I can plant more herbs! If the neighbourhood squirrels let me, that is. I'm sure they're all ticked off because we've taken down their tree.
One of the biggest squirrels used to take naps on a lower branch all the time, probably recuperating after its latest attack on my hapless seedings. It would often sleep with its bum facing the kitchen window, tail tantalizingly draped down over the branch, goading me.
You can see more photos of the tree-cutting
in my Flickr set.
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Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 10:52PM 
